Covered
by Not The Whip
Summary: [Indefinitely on Hold] Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone. SasuNaru, onesided GaaNaru, Foul Language, YAOI, PsuedoHet, AU, MPREG, OOCness, OCs, oy vey.
1. Prologue

**Title: **Covered**  
Author:** T.S. Jackal-Bright  
**Rating:** PG-13 now, eventual R for strongly implied adult... stuff  
**Warnings:** Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga timeline up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs**  
Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Summary :** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.  
**AN:** I used to be die-hard anti-MPREG but this PB plot bunny popped up and took over my life... over a year ago. I found this story again when I switched over from Zombie Bitch old computer to Anubis new computer and decided to re-edit it and throw it out there for the general amusement of the public. I don't take this seriously, just a lark that came from thinking a little too much about how Naruto and Sasuke are in _luuuuv _and how fabulous it would be if Sasuke killed Orochimaru and took over the Sound.

"Covered"  
Prologue

It took him two years of strenuous training out on the road, with only the Pervert Sennin and his floozy of the evening as company. After that it took yet another year of hard work back home, still, unfortunately, with the hormone-drenched moron.

It took him eleven more months of simultaneously trying to hide from the Akatsuki and collect information on the whereabouts of the Hidden Village of the Sound, currently under new management.

It took him another month to sell his plan to the old hag and the Kazekage, while enduring countless beatings from both, before he convinced them.

It took him six months to master the jutsu necessary to veil his distinct chakra and his equally distinct jutsu he would perform with it.

It took five months, six missions worth of pay, twenty-seven broken bones (twenty-three in other bodies, four in his own,) a ton of creative forgery, and six trips to the tailor before he could get the plan underway.

It took three months of journeying, zigging, zagging, and generally disappearing off the radar as himself and reappearing as a rogue ninja from the Sands (Gaara having agreed to this part of the plan only after breaking those four bones of Naruto's,) seven months of gaining trust and clout as a Sound ninja, and then an added month of pretending to heal from an extra-nasty chest wound that had mended by the morning, before he actually realized it could possibly work after all.

Five years and ten months of scheming, planning, training, plotting, lying, conniving and yes, even a little bit of seducing, and he blew it all in six hours. If one wanted to be nit-picky, two deliciously active hours sprinkled throughout four total hours of post/pre-sex napping.

Of course, he had to wait a few more weeks before the full weight of his problem settled like a lead balloon in his belly.

Well, perhaps a bit further south than that.

After a stressful week waiting for that certain visitor to arrive, combined with a few nasty boughts of illness first thing in the morning, it finally dawned on him (with the help of a plastic-cased piss-strip he snuck out at risk of death to procure.)

Uzamaki Naruto was with child.

Sasuke's child.

_-9 Months Earlier-_

They circled round like a pack of hyenas, just dying for a big-job predator to feed and then leave them the rotting carcass. In the center stood an imposing blonde woman, leggy, lean, and with a slashed Sand forehead protector resting defiantly above her flaming-blue eyes. It didn't really matter that her glare looked like a match meeting an oil tanker run aground in shallow waters or that she had brazenly walked in and announced herself as Mori Aka and her intentions were for Uchiha-sama's ears only.

She was asking for it. Begging for trouble, really.

They couldn't wait for the beautiful brawl to begin.

Uchiha-sama had been sent for and she had been told to wait. Other than that, no one said a word. At least, not until some idiot stepped a bit too close and ended up pined beneath her foot and groaning.

This acted as enough of a catalyst to get the mob moving, closing in and leading with the points of their blades and calls for some real, bloody fun.

"Heel, idiots," the order rang out through the hall. All pulled back, except for the poor guy who had to fly back because he, unfortunately, connected with Mori's fist right when their leader spoke up. Slamming into the wall just beside Uchiha-sama, he slid down into a messy pile, whimpered, and failed to get up. Not even turning his head, Uchiha-sama strode forward. Obviously the only thing he cared to examine at that moment was the newcomer. Breath even and skin dry, the barely-mussed Mori stood there, waiting for his approach.

Was it her imagination, or had the room just gotten colder? She swore she could see her breath as the frozen gaze of the Sound leader raked across her freshly chilled flesh.

"Your name?" he asked, voice flat, no emotion. Mori could have sworn, though, that she had impressed him somewhat, and that vague admiration lurked behind his deadpan, scarlet stare. That pleased her more than it should have.

So the bastard actually did it, she thought. He used the user and got rid of Orochimaru. Itachi must be next, if Sasuke hadn't seen to him already. Not likely; they would have heard, even in the Sand.

"Mori Aka," she answered a last, a slim grin cutting across her attractive face.

"Your real name."

Mori froze. It didn't work, it should have worked but it didn't and now she was dead…

"Mori Aka? Pathetic," Uchiha-sama continued, face blank. "Which one of your buddies in the field gave you that idiotic handle?"

Inside, she exhaled with a mighty whoosh. Still all right, cover still intact. Outside she remained too-cool-to-care.

"Mori Rin, sir," she responded evenly. If he could play the stoic bastard, so could she. Try as she might, though, spark and sarcasm crept out with her words. "I would prefer if you called me 'Aka,' sir, if it's not too much an affront to his high-and-mightiness that an underling makes such a request of him."

"That name means so much to you?" he asked, staring down at her, voice void of anything but a hint of bored condescension. "You've left your world behind, Mori. Shouldn't that include the one who named you?"

"A… good friend gave me that name," she half-truthed. She had in fact made the mistake of letting Gaara pick her alias. "Even after it all, he was still a good friend."

Uchiha-sama snorted but didn't poke or prod at it any further. Instead, he continued his questioning.

"Why are you here?"

"I want to join you."

"What makes you think you can? What are you running from Mori, and why did you run to me?"

"I… had some disagreements with the management of my village and decided it was best to leave. As for coming here, I didn't come for the waters. I got to see you in action almost six years ago, at your last chuunin exam. I figured if you'd gotten better than you were then, here was as good a place as any. A heavy head-honcho, three squares, and a roof, you know. Of course, if you haven't improved since then maybe _I_ should be the one in charge around this place."

Not even a twitch. If Sasuke had been ice all those years ago, he was death now.

"You're what, 17? Why weren't you competing in the same exam?"

"ANBU captains hardly have to fight for a rank they earned four years prior, now do they?"

Mori tried not to hold in her breath while Sasuke stared through her. It was as if he could look inside and see her lies. Still, whether he bought her story or not wouldn't be an issue once he checked up on the Sand's advancement reports. "Mori Rin" would be there, as well as in the newest Bingo book, with a viciously successful record trailing after her name.

Mori couldn't handle the stagnant quiet.

"Fight me, sir. If you win I'll submit to your orders. If I win... Well, you should just hope you win."

Silence again. Mori heard a lone cricket chirping somewhere. In the back of her mind she wondered how it got in there but the rest of her thoughts were trained on pulling this act off. It was all she could do to keep herself from leaping on the bastard, beating him senseless, and then getting murdered by the Sound underlings before she had a chance to drag Sasuke home.

Finally, Uchiha-sama nodded.

"Fine then, let's go."

_-4 Hours Later-_

"Good…_pantpant_…fight…_pantpantpant_…I guess I'll…_pant_…let you off easy this one time," Mori gasped, leaning heavily on a concrete boulder that had, only hours before, been considered part of the floor. Drenched in sweat and blood, some hers and some not, she knew if she tried to move her legs would never forgive such a heinous trespass. Across the room, in a similar position, Uchiha-sama laughed low and raspy at the girl's brass-trash-talking as she teetered on the edge of consciousness.

This girl had guts.

And a wicked right hook.

Gently wiping the blood from his bruised jaw, he spat a bit of molar on the floor. The spectators hung on the fringes, unsure of what had just occurred. Many of them were injured and dazed from being caught in the middle of what had been, for most of them there, the scariest battle they had ever witnessed. That the new chick could stand after a beating like that was amazing; that she could return the favor couldn't even register in their minds.

"You're interesting… _pant_...Mori. We'll see. For now…_pantpant_…you can stay."

"I should… _pantpant_…be saying that… _pant_… to you, Uchiha. After that performance I… _pant_…should… _pant_…be this village's new _goddess_. "

That creepy laugh again and then Uchiha stood upright and strode out, a little slower than when he came in but still steady. Mori admired his ability to do that. Of course he couldn't show his belly to the Sound-mongrels.

The crowd dispersed. Mori waited until she was alone to slump to the floor, exhausted.

_If it weren't for this damn jutsu on top of a jutsu shit,_ she grumbled to herself, _I could have so kicked his ass… Man, Mori sucks At least 'Operation: Infiltrate Sasuke the Bastard's Lair' was a success Naruto, you are a genius!_

A shard-sharp pain in her side made "Mori Rin" gasp for air, reminding her of fight that had just ended moments ago.

_Well, maybe genius is too strong of a word..._

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** Covered  
**Author:** T.S. Jackal-Bright  
**Rating:** PG-13 now, eventual R for strongly implied adult... stuff  
**Warnings:** Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga timeline up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Summary:** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.

* * *

"Covered"  
Chapter 1  
T.S. Jackal-Bright

* * *

"Your hair is too long. It's a liability, so get it cut."

Mori hadn't seen much of Sasuke for the first week, but once it had become apparent she told the truth about breaking ties with the Sand, he approached her to become his aide during a trial period, to be sure of where her loyalties now resided. The last one he had met an unfortunate end at the business ones of a dozen or so kunais, so the position stood vacant.

Also, Sasuke liked to keep his potential enemies close.

That meant they were within range.

On this particular morning Mori struggled between clearing away the man's breakfast dishes from the low table in his quarters and keeping herself from strangling the guy. Last night they fought over whether or not Mori was ready for fieldwork and a bad night's sleep couldn't dispell the animosity between them; the bad feelings hung gunmetal-gray over their heads, all ozone-tang and storm-cloud sharp.

It would have been embarrassing, really, if Mori cared about things like that. The rest of the camp had heard them arguing the night before, with Mori's insistent "I'm fucking ready already"goading Uchiha-sama into a _much _louder than normal "I don't think you are" that echoed from front hall to the kitchens in the rear. If pressed for an opinion, the other Sound nins would probably have agreed with Mori out of fear; not only was she freakishly strong, she had no qualms about yelling at Uchiha-sama or telling him exactly what she thought in many colorful and inventive phrases.

Scary woman, for certain.

Sasuke's first comment of the morning proved he had considered her demands. An odd comment, one that made Mori slip on the slick-suds of memory. Before she could stop herself, she spoke.

"I thought you liked your women to wear their hair long," she snarked, slamming a cup onto the tray before lifting it from the table.

Sasuke paused, an ugly-bruise recollection resurfacing from the old days, the long-gone yesteryears. He knew the stupid rumors about his likes and dislikes, the ones Konoha girls hoarded like small children with their shiny coin-machine prizes. He wasn't so dense. Sasuke knew that was why Sakura and Ino never cut their hair until it nearly killed them, the idiots.

"Not that it's true," he answered slowly, "but how did you know that?"

Crap.

"Temari-chan swooned about you for weeks despite the chuunin exam fiasco. I either had to listen to that crap or kill her, but the latter seemed too troublesome so, yeah…"

Babbling like a cheeky, little monkey and feeling about as bright, Mori trailed off, praying that she sold yet another load of crap.

"How do you know Temari?" Sasuke asked, his voice dangerously even and soft.

"We grew up together. BFF, blood sisters, all that shit. It was her that got me the bodyguard position when her little brother became Kazekage. Man, Gaara used to give me nightmares as a child. My mom used to say 'Be good or Gaara will get you;' he was like the Sand's resident boogeyman."

"Why work for him them?" Sasuke asked, curiosity a bare fringe-tinge ringing around his words.

"He… changed. A lot," she laughed, soft and almost wistful. "After that exam. Gaara was still quiet, you know, but not in that 'I'm plotting everyone's demise sort of way.' More gentle."

No response from Sasuke, just a cool look, analyzing her and her words.

"Gods, listen to me go on and on about all that old shit. I'll get these to the kitchen right away."

Mori hurried to the door, the dishes prattle-rattling on the tray, high-pitched, ceramic echoes of her own babbling moments before. She was eager to get out of the distressing atmosphere but Sasuke's voice stopped her short at the door.

"Mori," he said in his usual disinterested monotone, "You talk to much."

"Yeah, I know, I know. My parents hated that they could never shut me up. They always wondered how I could become a ninja, that the enemy would hear me coming from a mile away and all."

"Everyone has their… weaknesses. I have a meeting this morning; your hair should be no longer than chin length when I return. I have an errand for you to run."

"Yes sir," Mori grinned and stepped out.

The halls were empty so Mori let the smile slide off her face, a worried grimace replacing it. That conversation troubled her. Sasuke didn't quite trust her and who could blame him? Naruto kept on surfacing, mutating the cold-hard bitch persona of Mori "Aka" Rin into a flighty, sentimental girly-girl. Why did she think this could work? Naruto never did subtle. Couldn't, really. Shouting, beating, and head-on declarations of war were more his style and try as she might, Mori couldn't completely deny who she really was under the jutsus. This was_ exactly _ why he never received spy missions. Maybe the old hag and Gaara had been right about all this…

Pushing open the kitchen door with her rear, Mori carried in the breakfast tray and set it beside the novice who'd been assigned to dishwashing detail. A former genin of the Leaf, Mori could hardly stand to talk to the boy but he always seemed to be on duty at meal times so, try as she might, she couldn't avoid the snotty traitor.

"Oi, Mori-san! Those Uchiha-sama's dishes?" he asked, gesturing to the addition to his pile. Mori glared and nodded curtly; at least she could keep up pretenses around the rest of these bastards. Turning to leave, Mori paused.

"Kid, you have any scissors lying around her?"

* * *

2 years and 2 Months Earlier

* * *

"Beta, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, boss."

"Good. What's your location?"

"Sector G, north perimeter, 50 yards from the target."

"Roger that. Hold until further orders. Over and out."

Shikamaru repeated the same conversation with his five other squad members. It was just reconnaissance, nothing too taxing for his team, but still he was edgy. The Hokage had informed him of impending troubles with the Akatsuki and Naruto, adding two more to his team to compensate. The fact that she felt uncomfortable assigning her most competent team to the mission and then padded it out even further made him worry.

Also, the possibility of running into Sasuke, or Orochimaru in Sasuke's body, made his nerves and his stomach more than a little wonky. Hokage-sama mentioned that sour-tasting tid-bit, too.

Shikamaru tensed at someone's approach but relaxed when a Leaf messenger landed beside him, shaking and sharing the same branch.

"Sir, news from the village. Two Akatsuki members have engaged several ninjas inside Konoha's border."

"I hope they didn't chince on the rings," Shikamaru muttered off-handedly.

"Sir?"

"A joke, sorry."

"… Right, sir. The rest of the message is as follows: your team is to stand by to act as an escort. Uzamaki Naruto is to be evacuated to the Village of the Hidden Sands under orders of both the Hokage and Kazekage."

"But what about…"

Before Shikamaru could finish his argument his radio crackled to life.

"Fighting has broken out in Sector H, sir! Looks like trouble in the Sound ranks, something between S-Class criminal Orochimaru and missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke!"

Shikamaru sighed and sent the order.

"Stay out of it but keep an eye on things. I'm sending the rest of the team as back up; depending how things go, we might have to step in."

"Yes, sir!"

Calling the rest of the squad with the change in orders, Shikamaru noted the uneasy horror on the messenger's face. A genin, just barely, he doubted the boy had been this close to such a dangerous situation before. How could they have sent such a chubby-cheeked child into such a volatile danger zone? Were things that bad back home?

"Look, everything's hitting the fan right now, kid. I need to stay here with my squad and you need me to get Naruto out of town, right? If you were me, what would you do?"

"I… I don't know, sir."

Silence from both parties for a moment, and then a wafer-thin, waver-voiced question.

"...Sir, is there going to be a war?"

Home may not have been much safer but Shikamaru couldn't keep the boy out here in a place like this. Another sigh. Why him? Why did he always have to make these crap decisions?

Shikamaru let his team know that he was heading back under new orders and that they should hold their positions until things got too out of hand. Also, no one was allowed to die without his order, so they'd better all be breathing when he got back.

And with hardly a sound, the branch was empty once more.

"You damn hag! I'm not going to run away from a fight!"

Tsunade twitched and restrained herself. Physically, at least.

"Brat! You can't beat them! Remember the last time Uchiha Itachi and his fish freak showed up? Even Hatake couldn't handle him and you guys had to come running to find me!"

"That's because those stupid elders thought you'd make a good Hokage! Fat lot they knew!"

That did it. Tsunade smacked Naruto and sent him stumbling.

"I'm trying to keep you alive, you idiot. You're safer under the Kazekage's freaky albeit watchful eyes. It's too late, I've already called back your escort. Shikamaru's on his way and Konohamaru's already packed up your necessities; you're heading out immediately."

"But!"

"No buts, that's an order," Tsunade threatened, dropping her voice down to somber, more serious tones. Not ashamed to pull rank on him, Tsunade tried to cut the argument short with the heavy press of her position. "You're a ninja and a citizen of my village so you have to listen to what I say… For a change."

Naruto glowered but, thankfully, shut up. A knock at the door drew the Fifth's attention away from the fuming young man; it was Konohamaru with Naruto's things.

"Now, I'm going to take you to the south gate and then Shikamaru and his team will take you the rest of the way. No one outside of this room knows where you'll be so that should give everyone some time to safely straighten things out. You'll stop over at a small town along the way, a neutral village, and ready your cover. The Kazekage's sending everything you need for your new Sand citizenship.

...And don't worry, it won't be forever; just until all this shit is taken care of."

"Old hag…"

Tsunade turned and started. Naruto had a determined, less-than-exuberant look on his face. She didn't like it. It was too out of character.

"Thanks."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she gave him a hug, kissing him on the top of his head; he'd grown those two years away but she was still tall enough for this big sister gesture. It seemed unfair, really. Naruto had just gotten home from his travels with that idiot Jiraya and she hardly had any time to set him straight before he had to run away again.

Things really were too quiet when Naruto was gone.

"All the thanks I need is you not dieing and ruining all our plans," she said, slapping a grin on her face.

"You ready to go, bro?" Konohamaru asked from the door, his own smile screwed on a bit too tight. Naruto nodded and ruffled his hair roughly as they passed through the door, closing it behind them.

"Now," Tsunade exhaled, trying to sound nonchalant, "let's blow this joint."

* * *

He watched them come. No pretense, no tricks or games or genjustus, just a "howdy-hello" and "we'll be taking you now, Kazekage." 

Gaara found this to be quiet stupid on their part and when the sand rested on the desert's face once more, hiding any blemishes from the fight, he felt the Akatsuki members would agree. If they were still alive, of course.

The dry ground thirstily sucked down the shock-scarlet blood, leaving hardly a drop.

Gaara took care of the rest.

* * *

6 Month Later

* * *

The bitter-bile clack of lacquered high heels sounded harsh in the dimly-lit, lonely-stone hallway. An hour earlier she would have been met by breathing guards, but only the well-bled dead greeted her.

"It was him wasn't it, Shizune," Tsunade's teeth and statement-not-question gnawed at her lower lip, barely-held-on-to rage flying through her like a let-go-blow. Tsunade heard her friend and aide's assent but didn't turn from her examination of the scene.

Nothing had been destroyed, property-wise. The seals on the door had yielded to an expert hand and anything unwanted in the vault had been left untouched, respectfully. The guards weren't stationed permanently at the door, having to keep an eye on the entire underground stores, what with the ranks still spread thin this long after the war. Apparently he had gotten his timing wrong and panicked, if that was even possible for the bastard, killing those that would ungraciously interrupt his theft.

"There isn't a chance he could have sent an underling, could there?"

Tsunade saw the swish-shake of the other's dark head as she turned to leave.

"There were also reports of activity on the Uchiha grounds," Shizune added quietly. "Further investigation revealed a secret room that probably held something of importance to the Uchiha clan. He's the only one left, besides Itachi, so he's probably the only one who knew where and what it all was. I can't expect he'd send a lackey to retrieve something so personal."

"Goddammit," she growled, half to herself. "He's got a whole village of rogue ninjas under him now. By putting his own thumb in the pie he might as well have signed his own death warrant."

"He also killed the jounins on sentry duty that tried to stop him on his way out. Messy, probably from haste. Not like him at all."

"Neither was desertion, murder, and mutany, or so I thought. Shizune, I want to see a full written report on all accounts of what went down within the hour. And I mean _all_ accounts."

Tsunade fell silent as they began to climb the rough-hewn stairs, their steps echoing tall and thin around them. When she spoke again, the ire and rage were gone, leaving only weariness.

"I tried to hold off. The Elders hated me for not acting, insisting he was a threat. I defended him, said he had his own prerogatives against Itachi, not the Leaf, said he wasn't a threat to us just yet. Shikamaru and his team kept an eye on his activities outside the Sound as best they could. I thought that would be enough. Now my butt's going to fry in this grease fire, I just know it."

"What are you going to do?"

"What else can I do?" Tsunade paused for a moment at the staircase's end, her slender hand pressed flat against the thick, dark door. "I'll upgrade his status to S-class, set a price on his head, and come up with a plan to take him down."

"It'll break Naruto's heart when he finds out Sasuke's wanted dead more than alive."

"Why'd you think I went so easy on the little prick in the first place?"

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaa_gasp_aaaaaaaaaara, I'm bored," Naruto whined, ignoring his new volume of _Come-Come Tactics _ that lay beside him, spine strained as it bridged face down to save his place. Lolling on the expensive, expansive couch in the Kazekage's office, Naruto's legs kicked aimlessly at the air while head hung groundward, collecting all the blood in his body. Gaara twitched but refused to look up from his paperwork; usually, if he ignored Naruto, the young man would wander off and entertain himself.

For about five minutes.

Then he'd be back in pestering and picking and generally pissing him off. Gaara did it to himself, though, not allowing Naruto out of the Kazekage compound unescorted for the duration of his exile.

Naruto began his high, keening wail once more, but Gaara couldn't hear over the rush of blood to his own head. A file marked urgent had somehow gotten into his pile of accounting and budget ledgers, but once he glimpsed the familiar symbol of the Leaf printed on its front his stomach dropped at the mistake. After only scanning the front page, Gaara snapped it shut, not wanting to read any more.

It wasn't that he cared about the Uchiha, because it was in fact quite the opposite, but he wanted to hide this before Naruto saw it.

"Whatcha reading?" Naruto asked, gone from the couch in a puff of smoke. He reappeared on the desk, sitting cross-legged and holding onto his toes while craning his neck to get a look at whatever made Gaara react so suddenly. He brightened when he caught sight of the familiar seal. "Hey! Something from home! What is it? What is it?"

"It's nothing, a request for assistance," Gaara responded too quickly. There was a good chance it wasn't a lie; the Leaf probably requested at the end to keep an eye out for the Uchiha and take care of him if they got to him first.

"Let me see!"

"No."

"C'mon, let me see!"

Naruto hopped off the desk and into Gaara's lap, struggling to wrest the papers away from his friend and his single-minded Sand bodyguard. A mouth full of dirt and a black eye later, Naruto clung to the ceiling, dancing around further attempts to get the file back while trying to read it. Flipping back the cover, Naruto scanned the first item and stopped dead. A tenticle of sand snatched it from his grip but it was too late.

"What _is _that?" Naruto murmured, looking down at Gaara. Gaara couldn't stand to look, so he busied himself with reading the rest of the file, backing into his desk chair while taking it all in. A few minutes later the file slapped onto the desktop, sliding across the well-polished surface. Naruto let go of his chakra-hold on the ceiling and flipped, landing lightly if more than a bit distractedly. Gathering up the papers, he stood there reading while Gaara watched from the corner of his eye. The phrases broke up and blistered in Naruto's mind, and he could only understand some of it while still piecing together the whole picture.

_ "At 0200, March the 1st, missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke_ _did break and enter the scroll vaults located in sub-basement B in Administative Complex C…"_

"…_died due to blood loss…"_

"… _were notified and funeral rites prepared…"_

"…_also broken into, but the contents of the hidden room in the Uchiha were unknown…"_

"…_engaged in battle at the east gate with the four jounins on sentry duty…_

"_Four more fell at the east gate when…"  
_

Brows dragged down, following the corners of his mouth, and the grimace only grew as he waded deeper into the account. The bastard, what the hell was he thinking? Stealing classified scrolls was one thing, but murder? Human life used to mean something to Sasuke; he almost died protecting Naruto once and couldn't kill him when he had every intention of doing so. When did that change? When Sasuke violently overthrew Orochimaru? Or was it something he learned before that? When did Sasuke get so far away from him, when did he become such a stranger?

This was beyond searching for power, needing to kill his brother. This wasn't a mean to that end by any stretch of the imagination. Naruto wanted to cry, to scream, to demolish something, but he just stood there, gripping tight the pages and trying to see despite all the words that filled the ocean between him and Sasuke now.

"The Leaf has asked for our help in locating and destroying the Village of the Hidden Sound and its leader, Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara said at last, unable to take the disturbing silence any longer.

A blonde-flash head-snap and Naruto met Gaara's impassive gaze. The blister-brilliant pain and beaten-puppy betrayal in Naruto's eyes rattled Gaara, unsettling him. He had grown accustomed to handling the emotions of others, but Naruto's were always ten-fold thick, like too much gravity focused on a single spot deep in his chest. He never knew how to react, so he turned away to shut it all out.

"Assign me to the reconnaissance team," Naruto croaked out, ordering without a hint of request. He was glad Gaara no longer looked at him, though; Naruto had sworn not to shed another tear for that bastard but was dangerously close to breaking that vow.

Without a word, Gaara headed towards the door, the silk-swish of his robes too light and airy in the heavy press of the room. He just needed to step out for a moment; he couldn't quite breathe properly.

"Gaara, I need to be the one to find him!"

"No," the Kazekage said, silhouetted in the doorway, "you don't."

"Why the hell not!"

"Because the one who finds him kills him. You can't do that."

"I know, but…" Naruto quieted once more, trailing off. When his voice returned it hung low, as soft a murmur the loud-mouth could reach. "I promised too many people, myself included, that I would bring him back. Me. If that means bringing him back for his execution, then… I just… I need to see him again. One more time…talk to him…"

"It would break you."

"Maybe," he spat bitterly. "Maybe not. That bastard hasn't broken me yet."

"Besides," Gaara said as he faced his friend again, "the Akatsuki are still at large. I beat them off once and they sent you into hiding…"

"'Cause the hag made me," Naruto interrupted, grumbling.

"...but who knows what will happen next? If you're out wandering around I can't protect you."

Naruto frowned.

"You make me sound like a pathetic, little girl, you..."

"Don't let Temari hear you say that." It was Gaara's turn to interrupt.

"If you don't let me, I'll do it myself!"

"That's desertion," Gaara warned, his eyes narrowing. "You'd be a missing-nin yourself then. Also, Hokage-sama would kill me for not keeping you in line."

Gaara, having no sense of humor that Naruto could find, obviously believed in the very real threat an angry Tsunade posed. If the mood of the discussion hadn't pinned his humor to the tray to await the knife, Naruto would have laughed at the thought.

"Please..."

The door snapped shut, leaving Naruto alone with the file. Screaming, he threw it, watching the papers fly and flip around him. They settle soft and sweet on the floor, hot-white blurs in Naruto's tear-stained eyes.

TBC

* * *

**AN:** Thanks to those who took the time to review. It's much appreciated. 


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** Covered  
**Author:** T.S. Jackal-Bright**  
Rating:** R for Stongly Implied Adult Stuff and Excessive Use of the F-Bomb  
**Warnings:** Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga timeline up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Summary:** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.

* * *

"Covered"  
Chapter 2  
T.S. Jackal-Bright

* * *

The wet and the cold sucked-snapped at his skin with every snow flake; Naruto hugged himself tight, rubbing his chest from time to time to remind his heart that he was, in fact, still alive. He hoped his other two comrades were doing alright; Naruto couldn't imagine the desert-dwellers handling the weather very well. 

Hell, he couldn't stand this northern nastiness and he was used to the cold. Still, in a lot of ways it beat what he had been doing for the past five months.

In a lot of ways it didn't, too.

Naruto really hated staring at the walls of Gaara's office, slugging about Gaara's quarters, and staring at Gaara's face for days on end. After convincing himself that everyone else was out looking for Sasuke and he was stuck under Sand arrest, he liked it even less; it didn't help that Tsunade sent messengers every week to make sure Naruto stayed put.

Doing nothing to find Sasuke or even to put the damn Akatsuki in their place so he could do just that, that hurt the worst though.

So Naruto came up with a plan. He titled it "Operation Bug the Stuffings Out of Gaara Until He Breaks and Let's Me Do Whatever I Want, As Long As It Gets Me the Hell Away From Him." Despite the name, Naruto's self-appointed mission was quite simple. In fact, the aforementioned name explain the width and breath of it, in all of it's uncomplicated brilliance.

And it was brilliant. Completely stupid and entirely transparent, but brilliant. Five months of Naruto hanging around, doing nothing but nothing and its most annoying derivatives, all within close proximity of the Kazekage, finally convinced Gaara that Naruto was a bit like a border collie; if you didn't give him work he started eating the sofa.

Naruto still couldn't decide if the furniture-gnawing went too far or not, but it landed him a spot on the Sand's recon team.

Still, laying around in bright and breezy boxers, much to Temari's dismay, sucking down water until his eyeballs floated off, and spending most of his time verbalizing his search for a word that rhymed with "orange" much to Gaara's dismay, beat the living crap out of this bastard of a blizzard.

"Uzumaki-san," the radio in his ear buzzed quietly, "I can not feel my arms and Mura-san is starting to fall asleep. We really need to get inside soon."

"You guys head back to the inn, get warmed up" Naruto answered. "I'm going to wait it out a little longer."

"But Uzumaki-san..."

"I know Gaara told you to never leave me alone, but I'm fine, really."

Unconvinced silence from the other party.

"I promise! I won't go and do anything stupid, like following Sasuke into enemy territory without any form of back-up whatsoever. I swear!"

"I'm holding you to that, Uzumaki-san. You do anything beside watch and it is _my _life Kazekage-sama will take."

"Right, right," Naruto grumped, nodding even though they couldn't see him. "See you soon."

The radio cut to silence and Naruto sagged against the trunk of the tree-perch hiding-place. No one seemed to trust him when it came to Sasuke. He wondered why. During all their travels Naruto felt he proved himself to be calm and collected, to actually act like a ninja when hard-pressed. He followed Gaara's orders to the letter, using only his alias and minimal taijutsu to protect himself, never giving away his true strength as they searched for any information that led to Sasuke's doorstep. Naruto kept in character, really he did, and only beat up that one Sound flunky they ran into while lodging in some shitty, nameless village.

The guy did try to pick his pocket, after all.

Besides, the accidental tip received was worth the bloody lip and swollen eye, as well as the queer looks from Mura and Uzu the morning after when he came to breakfast right as rain. At least Naruto got a few good shots in before he had to crumple like a souffle at a rock concert. It _was _pretty shameful, how the whole thing ended, but he still preened himself for giving them some direction after all their wanderings.

Naruto had the Sound bastard pinned, the jerk's forehead protector ripped off and wrapped around his fist to act as make-shift brass, and readied to shove the metal plate deep into what was left of his opponent's pink-stained smile, when the guy spat out something about retribution, revenge for beating on the Terrifying So-And-So of the Infamous Sound Village.

"Who'd pay for your sorry ass?" Naruto laughed.

"Uchiha Sasuke, that's who."

Naruto stopped.

"You even know who that is, you witless prick? You backwater, bastard son of a..."

"Of course I know who that is," Naruto seethed, cutting So-And-So off with a closed-fist backhand, the metal edge of the protector biting a bright red line deep into his baby-faced cheek. "What makes you think some self-centered, little shit would care about a nobody like you?"

Naruto felt the strain of legs as his opponent pushed against the floor, kicking up and flipping him over So-And-So's head. A quick recoil and metal-plated sandal-bottoms sunk deep into Naruto's stomach, not a trick he expected is he was being honest with himself, and Naruto couldn't help but let go of the guy's shirt. The heavy, oak table behind them stopped Naruto from flying too far and helped even out his pain, adding a sharp blow to his back that matched the one in his stomach in a lovely, bruise-blossom sort of fashion. Grasping at the breath that escaped him, Naruto stared up at the Sound ninja; humiliation burned his cheeks, knowing he couldn't push this any farther. The situation slipped out of hand the moment Naruto first flung his fist at the brat and he was only too glad those Sand guys weren't there to witness it.

"Well, look at that. I don't need Uchiha-sama to give a shit about me, after all," the ninja said, his smirk slick with pride. "The northern roads are mine; he gave them to me to guard. If I needed saving like some damsel-bitch I wouldn't hold such an honor, now would I?"

The Sound ninja spat on Naruto's still-sprawled form and walked out the door, completely clueless.

_Northern roads, eh? Interesting..._

And that was why Naruto was currently hanging out in the thick-limbed, snow-covered trees that lined a minor side road that cut deep into the northern providence. They'd spent all week combing the network of roadways and lanes, some large, other meandering and fading off into the woods. Nothing so far, but Naruto could feel in his gut that they were coming close.

Literally.

No one's chakra could make his stomach so taunt and tingling, ready for something, anything to happen.

No one but Sasuke.

Naruto could taste its lingering ozone-tang on the air, following it since dawn. He wasn't going to give up because of some stupid reason like the sun was going down, or the temperature was easily dropping to ten, twenty below zero. Obviously he didn't care about back-up all that much, either, despite what he said.

"Come on, just give me something. A sign, a hint, anything..." Naruto muttered to himself.

And, because he was lucky like that, a sled slid beneath and beyond Naruto, heading farther into the wilds. It would have been of less consequence, except the almost blinding burst of chakra that came and went with the craft belonged to Sasuke and Sasuke alone. Following, Naruto forgot his promise to the Sand boys; it was just too hard to think about anything else when Sasuke showed up. Always was and always will be that way. Standing, Naurto readied to leap to the next branch in pursuit.

Didn't quite make it, though.

Thick arms held him back and words rattled out between Uzu's chattering teeth.

"Don't even think it, Uzumaki-san."

Sighing, Naruto relaxed and found his footing again. Furious but resigned, Naruto realized following Sasuke wasn't an option right then; cold as the Sand ninjas were, Naruto knew he couldn't deal with them both. Turning, he grinned and scratched the back of his head. Uzu released him and stared down at him; Mura had come too, looking more than put out.

"Sorry I didn't call you guys. Just didn't seem to be any time, you know?"

Nothing but blank stares. They obviously didn't agree.

"Uzumaki-san, you noted which direction he was headed in, yes?"

"Yes, but..."

"And you've noted this location as a bench mark, yes?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then we're going home. Now. Kazekage-sama wanted a report two weeks ago and Hokage-sama has been threatening him with all-out war if he failed to supply her with proof of your continued existence within the next three days."

"Fine guys, but..."

"He got away, dipshit," Mura cut in. It was the first time he spoke during the entire mission, and probably his last. "You'll be a patient little ninja for once, get your ass back to the Sand, and wait your turn for revenge."

Naruto had nothing to say in response to that.

Well, not quite.

"I don't want _revenge_," Naruto whined, defeated for once. He knew they were right and he had grown up a _little_ bit. Reporting back to his seniors and following orders would be the mature thing to do. He just didn't want to do it without at least a smidgeon of resistence. Naruto had a reputation to maintain, after all.

"Well, what do you want?" Uzu asked as they made their way back to the inn.

But Naruto never did answer him.

* * *

1 Year, 4 Months Later

* * *

Caught in the cool light of the moon that pooled and puddled in the valleys of the covers, Sasuke lay there, watching Rin as she slept. He still wasn't used to the warm weight on the other side of his bed, alien and intrusive. Everything within him screamed death and danger if he fell asleep with someone inside his sanctuary but, in Rin's defense, he hadn't been horribly murdered yet. Had to make more of the medical nins under his command, yes, but he was still in one piece. 

Sort of.

So Rin was a little rough and tumble, so what? It meant he didn't need to hold back.

Still, Sasuke couldn't figure it out. It wasn't like he fell into bed with everyone he met. Anyone, really. Rin had been his first in his entire, short life, not that he'd ever admit it. Kissing her that night, about a month ago, it came as much of a surprise to him as it did to the poor girl. Her eyes just held something so comfortable, so familiar, that his hurt him, made him angry. Sasuke wanted to end their conversation, shut Rin up, close his eyes and stop staring at that soft-spark-something, at least for a moment.

Rin replied, after the lingering-lips caress ended, with a right to his jaw.

And then kissed him again.

The pain was... Perfect, actually.

He didn't want any of this, the tongue, the hands, the blue-bash eyes, the moan-groan-_morepleasemore_. Rin's hands worrying at bruised flesh, pulling too tight at short, black spikes, biting too hard at already-bleeding flesh, it was punishment for doing something bad, doing something he shouldn't.

Sasuke shouldn't have sex.

Sex led to bonds and bonds, well, he was only really good at breaking them.

Or so he thought.

Here lay Sasuke, resting as well as he could after a particularly absorbing bout of messy-sex with Rin, and all he could think about was that moron. Moments, conversations, crusts and crumbs of their childhood that had long been vacuumed up by his hate returned sporadically throughout the past few months. Something would happen, someone would say something, usually Rin, and there the memory would be, causing the young man to mentally catch his breath and his composure with uncomfortably increasing regularity.

Can't be snagged by true-blue views of days broken and buried.

Of course not.

Sasuke didn't know what worse, the actual remembering or the unsettling desire to see the moron again. Wrong as it seemed, the heart-tug thought of meeting Naruto once more always rode in on memory's coat tails.

But what did it matter, what he might want? The guy always landed on his feet and didn't need Sasuke knocking him off them again. Probably doing choice missions the Fifth showered him with, Hokage's pet. Probably still brash and loud and i _orangeorangeorange /i _. Quick to anger, quick to fight, quick to care about everything and everyone.

Probably long over their fight, all the nasty thing Sasuke did, all the horrible things Sasuke said, nothing he'd take back because Sasuke couldn't. He just couldn't.

Probably long over Sasuke, too.

It _was_ five years ago and Naruto's fine. And Sasuke's fine.

Just... Fine.

Rin stirred beside him and he opened his eyes; her's were already wide and odd. He caught her watching him, caught the strange emotion in them he couldn't read, but then she blinked and it was gone.

Wordless they came together, harsh and violent, Sasuke trying to sear away thoughts of long-gone life-lines and Rin, he could only assume, doing the same. They raged against each other like the afflicted ill, sweating and shaking, moaning and crying until, at last, the fever broke and they lay panting, sated for the time being.

"Mmmm..." Rin almost-purred.

Sweat-slick limbs cooled, tangled together in the large bed. Rin groaned again, languidly and particularly content, as she stretched still-quaking limbs across Sasuke's shudder-shaking chest. Rin always had more energy after their makings and breakings, in general, but they usually slipped into silence and then sleep afterwards, only to wake and go again at least one more time before dawn.

Tonight, for some unknown reason, Rin couldn't stop herself from talking. Climax apparently clouded her thoughts and lazy-lust loosened her tongue as Rin rolled over to stare at Sasuke from her pillow-place between his pecs.

It weirded Sasuke out.

"You taste so much better than I used to figure," she drawled and dropped off, smirking with half-closed eyes.

"Used to? How long have you been thinking on the matter?" he asked, not even looking down.

"Since ages ago. I think I like your neck better than your lips, though. And the inside of your thighs better than your neck. And your..."

"Ages ago?" Sasuke interrupted, finally craning his neck to look at her. He felt Rin stiffened for a moment, but the moment passed. Laughing, she turned a bit more, lapping salt-tang from the skin stretched across his breast bone.

"You know I can't _live _without hyperbole, bastard," she muttered into him.

"Idiot."

Rin had relaxed a bit, but he felt her tense at the insult. Pushing up on her elbow, shoving all her weight into his unprotected stomach just below his rib cage, Rin fumed while Sasuke "oofed" and gasped for air.

"Don't call me that!"

"Bitch, then," he wheezed, shoving her off.

Scrambling for purchase, Rin slid off the bed, dragging pillows with her.

"Don't call me that ei-umph!"

Another pillow caught her in the face. Sasuke simply rolled over and pulled up the covers, too tired to argue. Fuming and naked, Rin stood and began to search for her clothes in the dark. He didn't want to play and she obviously didn't feel like dealing with him tonight.

"You won't even find enough to cover your eyes," Sasuke mumbled.

He rolled over to watch her search, taking in how she stomped about in the spilt-silver moonlight, her hissy-fit and the jut of her jaw all comforting in its familiarity. Not so much familiar because he scrutinized Rin's every move, he really could care less about simper-simpleton, loser-lover activities like that, but because at those times she reminded him of another idiot. Naruto would hiss and spit and fume almost exactly like Rin.

Of course, his attributes were less developed and more clothed than those of the naked woman currently tearing her way through his room, searching for any bit of clothing that hadn't been ripped and ruined in their haste. As much as it tired him out to deal with her when she got this way, he couldn't help but cling to it and all the other random traits she shared with that moron. Traits that still felt comfortable despite his best efforts to estrange himself from their memory.

Rin paused in her snit and Sasuke could just hear the gears grinding to life. _5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ..._

"You jerk! Bastard! You ripped off all my clothes! How the hell am I supposed to leave this goddamn room!"

Sasuke expected the rants but didn't see the flying leap coming; it wasn't fair, her using that freakish speed in the bedroom. Rin pummeled him with a pillow, down and dust flying while Sasuke found his in. Grabbing her wrist, he rolled over to straddle her waist, smirking and believing her effectively pinned. Pity he forgot about her legs at that moment. Kicking off the mattress, Rin rolled them head over heels until Sasuke's back slammed into the wall and his feet stuck up in the air. Chakra gathered along Rin's legs from knees to toes, holding her to the wall in order to reverse their positions in a more vertical fashion. A quick twist and grab caught his own slender wrists in her hands, Sasuke's chin curling into his chest as his weight slid bed-ward to land firmly on his shoulders.

"I win," Rin crowed, laughing.

"But you're still naked."

"Guess we'll just have to make the best of it until you go and get me something to cover up with," she grinned.

The two tumbled down from the wall and into each other, filling the night with what could never quite fill their gaping, gawping voids.

* * *

"Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck," the mantra ran, tripping ever so effortlessly off Naruto's tongue. 

In private Rin had all but melted away, disappearing after things... changed between her and Sasuke. It was all he could do to play her game around the others. Still, here he was, curled around himself in a "herself" body, cowering on the cold, tile floor beside the equally cold, porcelain toilet, while Rin tried to surface once more.

For a particularly good reason, of course.

This position had become routine over the past couple weeks; every morning greeted him with sickeningly strong sunlight, a headache gnawing all tooth and nail at his temples, and whatever he ate last swirling down the toilet pipes. All this and then Rin had to screw on a smile and serve Sasuke his breakfast.

And as for Naruto's objectives, they changed too much since he got here; they were beyond recognition now. Originally, he still held onto plans of dragging Sasuke home for the trial and, with the miraculous thirteenth-hour save by Naruto, the waiving of his execution; after that he'd play it by ear, but ample chances to beat the living shit out of Sasuke throughout the whole mission made the sketchier parts worth facing.

Now, well, when that half-feral kitten-love woke up from its nap nestled around Naruto's heart, things just i _couldn't /i _ be the same. He hadn't planned on falling in love with Sasuke, if he was being honest with himself, finally realizing that he'd been in love with the bastard since he couldn't remember when.

The worst blow of all this wasn't the loss of aims, what little sense he had, his virginity, or his gender. It was losing that bastard to another woman. Even though she shared body and mind with Naruto, Sasuke fell for Mori Rin. Or whatever happened. Sasuke wasn't with Naruto, he was with her, in whatever fashion it was, for whatever reason he held and failed to disclose, even with the object of his attention-intentions.

So Rin stole his man.

So what?

He could deal with it, since Sasuke never was and never would be his. He shouldn't have ever been anyone's, but that obviously became a moot point a month or so ago. This first act of betrayal of his own body against himself obviously counted as more than enough to throw Naruto for a loop. He didn't need another one from that bitch Rin, but obviously she didn't take his needs into consideration.

Naruto's head hurt more than normal. He really needed to stop thinking of Rin as a different person. He was Rin and Rin just received some bad news, so he needed to deal with it.

Groaning, Naruto grabbed blindly for the test, sitting innocently on the sink's edge while his head hung over the toilet's edge. He stared at the piss-strip, scowling at its cheery-colored proclamation. Such simplicity, such banality, who would guess at its evil message?

Nothing positive about positive results, in this case.

Burning, crushing weight squeezed his breath out of his chest as Naruto desperately fought back tears. Tired, aching, and bent-almost-broken, this mind-fuck of a mission had become too much for him to bear. This, all of this, should never have happened. The old hag and Gaara had been right. Naruto should never have come here, never chased after Sasuke so blindly without stopping one damn second to _just think_ about the repercussions of such a stupid mission.

"Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck," the chant began again, stopping short only when a light, insistent rapping came at the door about five minutes later.

"Mori-san? You in there?"

Naruto scanned his brain frantically for a name to match the voice. Kiki, Kikoman, Kyoko... Kyoko-san, that was it!

"Yeah, yeah, I"m in here Kyoko-san, what's it to you!"

"No need for to be snarky! Uchiha-sama's been asking for you, is all."

"Why the hell does he want me!" Naruto bit out too quickly to be nonchalant and under control. "I didn't do anything to the bastard!"

"Shh! Not so loud," the young woman, barely a woman at only thirteen, hissed. "He just wondered where breakfast was, is all. It's twenty minutes late."

Naruto chucked the pregnancy test at the door, it's hollow, plastic _tack_ extremely unsatisfying.

"Tell that little shit to get his own damn breakfast! Tell him I told him, for all I care! He'll get his fucking breakfast when I'm good and ready to give it to him, the spoiled prick!"

No response. The girl must have fled.

Good for her, the bitch.

Naruto paused at that last thought. He knew he was quick to judge, but snapping and snarling at someone who just wanted to quickly and painlessly complete their unpleasant job seemed a bit sharp for him. His anger at the girl seemed primal-red instead of white-hot.

Claw-filled.

Different.

Sniffing, wiping away snot and bile with a towel he petulantly left for someone else to find and clean, Naruto hurried to clean himself up and make himself presentable.

Time to face another day.

_Oh fuck..._

TBC

* * *

**AN:** Err... I guess I've kind of abandoned Naruto recently, but hopefully the deleted spoilers in Ch. 300 will rekindle the flame. Look, it's already made me push out Chapter 2 of "Covered!" 


	4. Chapter 3

**Title:** Covered  
**Author:** T.S. Jackal-Bright  
**Rating:** PG-13 For Language and Non-Sexy Adult Stuff  
**Warnings:** Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga time line up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Summary:** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.

* * *

"Covered"  
Chapter 3  
T.S. Jackal-Bright

* * *

"Your next field mission," Sasuke dead-panned as he pushed the file across the table, not even glancing up from his scroll of the morning. 

Rin gripped the tray as tightly as she could, trying to keep the china from rattling in her shaking hands.

"I... I can't take it."

"Take what?" Sasuke wasn't listening closely, absorbed in his reading. "Put the tray down first, before you drop it."

Rin fumed and slammed down the tray. One hand hit the tabletop, supporting her weight as she reached across the heavy, mahogany, expensive expanse to violently snatch the scroll from Sasuke's hands. The brittle paper tore a bit and the antique table had been scratched by the tray; Sasuke held little regard for material things but, from the maroon-gloom look in his eyes, he cared even less for Rin's destructive tizzy-fit.

"I can't take the mission, you moron!"

"Why the hell not?" Only on Sasuke could anger be ice cold.

"Because I'm pregnant It's all your fault, you bastard!"

No reaction, no sound, not even a breath from the man across from her.

"And before you say anything," Rin grumbled, pulling up and away once more, "of course it's yours."

Anger and determination ebbed away, leaving bare-boned resignation in their dry beds. She turned to leave, determined to get the hell out before she started crying.

"I'll... I'll get it taken care of," Rin said tiredly, "don't worry about that. I mean, what good am I to you when one blow to the stomach could... Could... Well, I can't have my attention split in a fight and all."

The door already began to swing shut behind her when an unexpectedly small murmur held up her exit.

"No... Don't... Wait a moment."

Rin waited, unable to look at him while she listened for him to go on. He didn't. Tears began to creep out and over her lower lids and Rin stepped out of the room and into the empty corridor.

"Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck..."

* * *

"I'm sorry." 

Squinting at the clock, Rin came to the happy conclusion that Sasuke couldn't find sleep after their discussion this morning. She, on the other hand, had worn herself down so thoroughly with a day of worrying, whining, fuming and fretting, that sleep had come easily enough. Despite the small joy Sasuke's insomnia brought her, the fact that he needed to share it had a less than pleasant affect on her disposition.

Rolling over, Rin propped herself up on her elbows to glare with a still-half-asleep intensity at the silhouetted figure in the doorway. They, for obvious reasons, opted not to spend the night together, this conclusion having been mutually met without the aid or need of conversation.

"Could you be more specific? There's a lot of things you should be apologizing for," Rin yawned, fisting sleep crusties from her eyes.

"I'm not apologizing for getting you pregnant, since you played just as much a part in it as I did."

Rin continued to glare, but remained silent.

"What I am apologizing for," Sasuke continued, in a tone that seemed both awkward and alien to him, "is my reaction to your announcement this morning."

"What reaction? Stuttering to yourself, telling me to wait and then clamming up?" Rin couldn't believe this crap.

"It may have seemed I was indifferent..."

"And it still does," Rin interrupted, her voice mocking and hard. "Well, aren't you? I can't see you giving two shits about anything that couldn't be used to destroy your precious Itachi."

"Now wait just a..."

"Look, I understand you're not all for this, that you have 'bigger and better things' to be dealing with now, but what about me? We're both only nineteen and yet we managed to find ourselves trapped in this ridiculously adult life. That's all before the whole baby thing, too!

"Now because of all that i crap /i , we have to make a choice. I'll make it alone if I have to, but I'd like your input. since if I'm useless to you, too much of a burden to you in your more-righteous-than-thou vengeance-quest, and you'll probably try to kill me again just so you can continue to feel NOT A GOD-DAMN THING, YOU MURDERING SON OF A BITCH!"

Rin's voice rose in intensity and volume until she screamed the last of her rant, the noise filling the vacuum of the night's silence. Biting her tongue till it bled, in a desperate attempt to shut up, Rin huffed and flared her nostrils as she breathed deep through her nose. Sasuke stared for a moment, motionless, before he spoke again.

"Are you quite finished?"

"...Yes, quite," Rin huffed, mostly in check once more. "You bastard."

"First of all, I want the child. Although it is ultimately up to you, I want to keep it _and _I want to raise it. Whether you care to stay after the child is born, again, remains your decision. And second, don't act like you know me. Rumors spread by the idiots around here and a place in my bed fails to make you an expert."

"I know you better than you think Uchiha. I know you're crazy, that much is certain, but I never expected you'd be this stupid. What kind of life can you give a child in this horrible place?"

"The same as I got in the Leaf! Or you in the Sand! Better, even!"

Neither Rin nor Naruto had ever heard Sasuke sound so incensed, so animated, so _loud_. Stunned into silence, Rin couldn't help but let the young man vent.

"Tell me, Rin. Your records say you were a chuuin at ten and an ANBU captain by twelve; what they don't say is how many people you killed before your first Blood. Well, how many? How many funerals did you go to before you even needed a bra? Well?"

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," Rin tried to reason, tried to bring Sasuke back down; she didn't like seeing him so upset like this. "Didn't you get _anything _ good out of your childhood? No friends, no memories, nothing that made it better than any kind of life you have here?"

Rin knew she was pleading, almost whining, but she needed to know. Actually, Naruto needed to know more than she, since by this point Rin had all but slipped away in his agitated state. After the span of several breaths, the thunderstorm rolled off Sasuke's pale, oddly open face, leaving battered-down grasses and a thick, wet air that hid him once more.

"I didn't get anything from my life in the Leaf that I couldn't easily throw away. Except the hate; that I can never lose."

_Stay calm_, Rin told herself. Don't do anything stupid that'll give you away...

"You bastard," she hissed. "How can you say that about Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei and..."

_ And me.  
_

Oh hell.

Sasuke's apparent shock shut Rin's mouth with a snap-slap; if she wasn't standing seconds from anihilation, she would have laughed at how one knocked-up chick could shake Uchiha Sasuke so badly.

Dangerously, his eyes narrowed.

"How do you know...?"

Before the argument could go any further, one of Sasuke's guards interrupted, a grim look on his face.

"Uchiha-sama, two Akatsuki memebers have entered the village."

"What do they want?" he asked, smoothly snapping back into cold, hard, evil-village-leader mode.

"They said they only want one thing and they won't leave until you hand it over."

Glancing around, Sasuke realized that Rin had slipped out while he was distracted. It could mean trouble, letting a Leaf mole run loose through the Sound; this "Mori Rin" had to be one of the Hokage's spies, considering how familiar she was with his childhood companions. Not a very good ninja, letting that slip. Of course, she had made it to his bed before all that...

"Sir? What are your orders?"

No time to worry about her now; he'd have a team search for her while he dealt with the Akatsuki; if he was lucky, one of them would be Itachi and that would be more than enough to keep his mind off of those nasty, riggling, worrisome thoughts that surrounded that woman named Rin.

"Well, what exactly do they want?" he snarled quietly, stalking out of Rin's room with his lackey close on his heels.

"Sir, they said they wanted the Nine-Tails."

* * *

"We have no fight with you, Uchiha-sama. We simply wish to relieve you of a burden." 

Sasuke glared at the two cloaked figures, barely-veiled contempt smeared across his sneering face. Neither one was Itachi and he hated them for that short-coming. As well as denied an easy shot at his revenge, this arrival and declaration reminded him rather unpleasantly of another time and place. Then it _had _been his brother under that wide, woven hat, when Itachi had come for Naruto with only an afterthought for dear, little Sasuke.

This situation pissed him off.

And the Akatsuki. They pissed him off too.

Maybe he'd take out the Akatsuki once he killed Itachi. It would give him something to do to fill the void while simultaneously getting rid of assholes who practically wet themselves in their excitement over that dead-last moron-of-morons.

The Akatsuki stood alone in the same courtyard Rin had made her debut not even nine months before. Same as then, those with nothing to do and plenty to watch gathered, roused from their sleep by the alarm. Once again intent on his visitors, Sasuke paid no attention to the crowd.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," he told them, voice even and emotionless. "I haven't seen that moron in almost six years and we failed to part on good terms. I would have known if he was here. One cannot help but notice that idiot's pitiful existence."

The Akatsuki didn't even blink.

"By your leave, we will look for it ourselves if you refuse to hand it over," said the taller of the two, an older man with a bit of gray at his temples and polite coolness in his words. The other, a young woman with thin, delicate scars that ran up her face and under her deep-dark sunglasses, smirked at their exchange as if the two men were telling bawdy jokes.

"He is not an 'it' and he is not here," Sasuke replied, arms crossed hard over his chest, eyes thinned to blood-red slits. "Now, if you please, leave."

"I do apologize, but we cannot leave without the Nine-Tails in our possession."

"Then I guess I'll have to show you the door."

* * *

The explosion shook the building, the passageway shivering beneath Naruto's fleeing feet. He wasn't running away from the fight. Of course not. Just trying to get the hell away before Sasuke turned his fury back on him. It was bad enough he let slip that he knew Leaf citizens intimately; if Sasuke found out it was him under Rin's skin he'd lose Sasu-... his life for certain. 

Another blast cracked the plaster ceiling, snowing small flakes of plaster and dust down upon his head.

What the hell was that boy trying to do? It didn't matter what village he headed up, Sasuke couldn't handle two Akatsuki. Not alone.

That was the problem, now, wasn't it? Naruto had left him alone to die. His resolve stiffening, he reminded himself turn about's fair play, that nasty little shits like Sasuke always get their come-upons, tit for tat, and all that shit.

Besides, the baby...

Stopping short, Naruto stood for a moment, shoulders shaking, eyes squinched shut. It finally seemed real. Threatened, his need to protect the life inside flared, and he realized that no matter how impossible it seemed, here he was, pregnant and stuck in a jutsu he developed as an immature, stupid, little prank.

And, as much as he knew he had to protect the baby, also he knew he had to protect Sasuke. That's what you did for your precious person, right? But what did you do if your precious person was an evil overlord of an enemy village and a general, all-around fucker to boot?

_ What should he do? What should he do? What should he..._

"Aw, crap! I'm coming Sasuke!"

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

**Title:** Covered  
**Author:** T.S. Jackal-Bright  
**Rating:** PG-13 For Language and Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It Violence  
**Warnings:** Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga time line up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Summary:** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.

* * *

"Covered"  
Chapter 4  
T.S. Jackal-Bright

* * *

"Did he _have_ to summon that big-ass snake indoors?" Rin muttered, stopping short in what remained of the recently remodeled hall. Following the trail of destruction through a gaping hole in the wall, she easily found the battle and blanched at the sight. 

Sasuke was currently engaged in a fight with what appeared to be a spider summoner.

A giant spider summoner.

Just... Ew.

The other Akatsuki member seemed to enjoy watching the fight, casually leaning on a sword nearly her height and a half and smoking a bitter-sweet-smelling cigarette. Sensing Rin's arrival, the other ninja turned. A toothy grin sliced across her scarred face.

"Kana-kun knew he was hiding it away somewhere," she called to Rin, glee glinting off her giggle-high, grating voice. "It would have been better off staying hidden, cowering like the useless demon-mongrel it really is."

"You bitch," Rin growled, forgetting herself; her control finally broke and the veiling jutsu fell away.

Her fury at everything ripped free in an angry, red chakra-charge, the energy crackling hot and hard in the air around her furious form. Only Rin's flesh remained; Naruto threw away the flimsy falsehood when he let loose the Kyuubi's chakra.

The broad side of the Akatsuki woman's sword met his attack, effectively shielding her from claws and rage. Rebounding from the block, sliding back on hands and the balls of his feet, Naruto leapt back and wide at his opponent, narrowly missing the swords wide arc. The weapon didn't seem to eat chakra like that fish freak that followed around Sasuke's brother, but this woman wouldn't be Akatsuki if she had no tricks up her scabbard.

As the other ninja swung around to meet his attack, he used the flat of the other's sword to his advantage, bounding off of it and behind; chakra-sticking to an utmost branch of a fat, old oak, Naruto paused long enough to form a few seals and ready his next attack. Dry dust flew from the ground and whirled in a tight spiral around the Akatsuki, finding its way into ever orifice despite her struggles. A handy jutsu he picked up in the Sand, Naruto used the opening in gave him to leap upon her, claws ready to sink deep in her throat. Coughing and spitting, the swordswoman twisted round with her weapon open and baring its sharp face. It was all Naruto could do to catch the blade in his hands, immobilizing it with sheer strength and will.

The two were locked, blood running down the blade and Naruto's forearms, the woman's sunglasses knocked off by the dust and battle. Staring into milky, whited-out eyes, Naruto realized why the dirty trick Gaara taught him did almost nothing to hinder his opponent's attacks. It didn't blind her because she already _was _ blind.

"It was better hidden before it let the demon out," the Akatsuki rasped around the mess in her throat. "Kana-kun can see it better than a candle in the dark with all that chakra burning 'round it."

Shocked, Naruto failed to counter the kick to her stomach and let go of the blade, dropping to his knees. Clutching his belly, nasty, red roses bloomed upon his shirt as it wicked up the blood from his split palms. Naruto coughed and gritted his teeth, panicking despite his best efforts.

_The baby...  
_

"Nine-Tails shouldn't worry, Kana-kun didn't snuff out the baby-spark in it's belly. Kana-kun is a bit bewildered, though; the Nine-Tails is a boy and though it's a him, it's not a him. It went and got itself knocked up, the slut!"

"Bitch," Naruto spat at the woman's grating laughter and harsh words, standing and backing into a defensive, ready position. He needed to get his chakra under control or else he was in serious trouble.

"Clever idiot. What will it call Kana-kun next? Slut maybe? Bitch a third time?" the woman laughed. "Whatever. Seems like Kogawa-san's finished playing, just like Kana-kun."

Naruto glanced over, not wanting to take his eyes off of this "Kana" character for too long, and started. Without even looking, as if it would have mattered, this woman knew Sasuke and his opponent stood there watching them, their giant creature-companions already back from whence they came. Although wary of the Akatsuki, Sasuke's brutally impassive stare was only for Naruto. From the looks of it, Sasuke noticed Naruto's lost control and, ultimately, his lost cover.

"Sasuke, I..." Naruto began.

"_It_ is all yours," Sasuke interrupted, speaking to the Akatsuki without taking his eyes from the bleeding, broken, Rin-bodied Naruto.

"Uchiha-sama didn't know he had the Nine-Tails all along?" Kana crowed. "Oh, this pleases Kana-kun too much! Did he even know the Nine-Tails was pregnant, she wonders? The lying-jutsus it wore _were_ good; they even lied to it's own body!"

Kogawa glared at his partner, who seemed to have lost herself in a fit of giggles.

"You are rambling again, Kana-san. Do try to rein in your tongue," he scolded before turning to address Sasuke. "You concede to handing over the Nine-Tails, regardless of its current... physical state?"

"Yes."

Naruto winced at Sasuke's voice. So cold...

"Sasuke, you can't..." Naruto pleaded.

"You have what you want," Sasuke cut in again. "Please leave my village and never come back."

"I'm not yours to give, you bastard!" Naruto snapped, the threat of the Akatsuki fading in the light of his blossoming rage towards Sasuke.

"Even under traitorous, false pretenses, you pledged yourself to me and the Sound, dead-last. You're my ninja, to do with as I please."

"Oh yes, as you please!" Naruto spat. "My body is yours, Uchiha-_sama_. I'm just your good little whore, aren't I?"

"And drop that ridiculous jutsu, moron!" Sasuke snapped at last, his patience gone.

"I_ can't_, you idiot! I'm stuck, thanks to you! You just _had_ to be so damn fertile, didn't you!"

"Enough! Shut the hell up!"

"Make me!"

"Idiot!"

"Bastard!"

"Lying bitch!"

"Fucking prick!"

Thankfully, the embarrassingly immature shouting match ended with a swift blow to Naruto's head, courtesy of Kana, and the ensuing unconsciousness.

"Whiney little girl-ninjas like that make Kana-kun ill. The Nine-Tails makes a terrible woman. If Kogawa-san would be so kind, Kana-kun can't carry her sword and a limp flesh-lump at the same time."

"Can't or won't," her partner muttered, his polite facade broken for a moment. His only response a blinding smile, Kogawa hefted Naruto's dead weight to his shoulders and bowed shallowly to Sasuke before leaving.

"Wait," Sasuke called, his composure found again amongst the shouting-shards. The Akatsuki stopped. "The baby. I know when it's due. If my child isn't returned to me after it's birth, I _will_ hunt you down and kill you."

"Why does Uchiha-sama care so much about a freakish demon-baby?" Kana asked. "It's an abomination, not something respectable rogue ninjas would want to be associated with, Kana-kun believes."

"It's my child."

Kana's responding chortle-snort sniggers echoed throughout the valley as the Akatsuki, plus Naruto, made their exit. Before they melted away into the thick woods, the one named Kogawa called out one last bit of advice over his shoulder.

"If you really desire a child Uchiha-sama, you would do best to find an actual woman. The Nine-Tails vessel will not live long enough to carry the child to term."

* * *

Shikamaru shifted carefully on his perch, stretching his legs a bit. Reconnaissance was terribly dull but he seemed well-suited for the job. Apparently _very _well-suited, since the Hokage constantly put him on recon since his induction into ANBU. 

His earpiece crackled to life as one of his team members relayed a message, her voice urgent and hushed.

"Sir, two Akatsuki have been sighted in Sector B."

"Well? Are they doing anything heinous," he drawled.

"Sort of, maybe. One, an older male, is carrying a young woman, unconscious and bound."

"A woman?"

"From the looks of her forehead protector, she's a Sound ninja."

_ Crap. _ Shikamaru had a terrible feeling about this, but he kept his response calm and tried to not jump to the worst conclusion.

"Describe the woman, Beta."

"Blonde, young, and I can't be sure but it looks like she has a Sand forehead protector tied around her neck. The symbol's been badly scratched, though. And... Well, something else..."

_Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm..._

"What else, Beta?" he snapped, growing impatient.

"There's a weird chakra signature in the vicinity of her lower abdomen."

"Like my Ma, sir," a third voice chimed in.

"Your ma, Gamma?" Shikamaru hissed through gritted teeth. When they get back to the village he needed to sit down his team and educate them in the ways of proper, concise, and _quick_ reports. He could feel his eye beginning to twitch.

"My Ma's pregnant, gonna be my fourth little sibling. Better not be another slimy sister though..."

"Do either of you recognize the woman?"

"Negative," answered Beta.

"I do, sir," Gamma chirped, sounding quite proud of himself.

"What? When? Why didn't you tell me?" Shikamaru asked incredulously. The tic was getting worse, he could feel it.

"About two, three months back. I saw her heading north when she came to a halt beneath my hiding spot. She looked right up at me, even though you couldn't have seen me from where she stood, I swear, and she had this huge grin on her face. She said something like 'Tell the old hag to teach her ANBU to hide better if she ever wanted to see them again.' I thought I was a goner for certain, but then she kept on going. Didn't lay a finger on me."

_Double crap. _Naruto was an moron, saying something that could give away his identity, but Gamma... Well, he kind of knew from the beginning the kid wasn't quite right in the head.

_I'm surrounded by idiots..._

"Why the hell didn't you report the incident!" he almost shouted, managing somehow to keep it down to a incensed hiss; at least_ he_ had enough sense to remember they were in enemy territory.

"Sorry, sir! I just figured there was no fight so it wasn't important. Honestly, I'm just glad to be alive, sir."

"And embarrassed about being caught with your ass hanging out," Beta grumbled.

"Damn, Hokage-sama would have been happy to know he was alright," muttered Shikamaru. "Of course, too late now."

"Sir?"

"Beta, Gamma, follow them," he ordered. "_Discretely_. I need to report this to Hokage-sama. I'll radio with orders shortly."

"Sir!" the two voices answered, and then the line went silent.

"Damn it, Naruto. Why are you always so damn _troublesome_?"

* * *

"Get off your lazy ass, you bastard." 

Jiraya cracked an eye open to find the lovely and obnoxious Tsunade standing over him. A bleach-blonde head stirred and peeked up over his barrel-chest. Tsunade visibly blanched; the older Jiraya got, the younger his girls became, it seemed.

"Whazzit?" he mumbled, still half asleep. Daylight tried to peek in through the curtains, eager to find his hung-over eyes. If he kept them shut, he figured, the sun would go away eventually. Maybe Tsunade too, but he doubted it.

She looked _really_ pissed.

And worried.

Now he began to worry, too.

"It's Naruto," she answered.

"What, did that Uchiha brat finally figure it out and kill him?"

"No. He handed him over to the Akatsuki."

That woke him up. Jiraya felt sort-of bad for the poor girl he accidentally threw off the bed in his rush to sit up, but she was least of his troubles right now.

"Where are they headed? When did it happen? How did..."

Jiraya's air-bourne pants cut his frantic line of questioning short as he inhaled cotton.

"Pants first," Tsunade snorted. "Questions later."

TBC

* * *

**AN:** Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to review (as well as follow my silly story.) You guys are completely AbFab, darlings!  



	6. Chapter 5

**Title:** Covered  
**Rating:** PG-7 for a smattering of mild cuss words and Gaara-angst  
**Warnings: **Foul Language, YAOI, psuedo-het, AU follows the manga time line up to the Valley at the End and then takes a hard left, MPREG, OOCness, OCs  
**Pairings:** SasuNaru, one-sided GaaNaru  
**Betaed:** Erm... Nope. Sorry.  
**Summary:** Naruto learned a lot in the past five years, but he never did learn when to leave well enough alone.

* * *

Trees whipped and gripped them as they sped along the forest-lined cliffs, all switch-thin and angry in the wind. Heavily-armed storm clouds marched in from the south, the thunder-head bowmen readying to rain down their fury at any moment. The air clung thick with anticipation and tasted of ozone as lightening ran through the crowd clouds, rallying the troops with their echoing thunder drums. 

Looked to be one hell of a storm coming.

"So they finally caught up with him," Jiraya called over the coming rain-ruckus. "I'd like to get my hands on the bastard that let slip Naruto's location. With all the work we did on the veiling-jutsu, you'd think the idiot could keep hidden forever."

"You don't think..." Kakashi started, his guess trailing off.

He'd been in Tsunade's office when Nara's report came in and the news turned Kakashi's stomach. Shortly after, news arrived of the Kazekage's capture, the seemingly unthinkable coincidence tasting foul in his mouth. Gaara had been able to fight off the Akatsuki before; apparently things were finally coming to a head and they were no longer pulling their punches.

Considering the gravity of the situation, Tsunade decided to handle this herself, recruiting Jiraya for the task as well. Although it wasn't wise, leaving the Leaf so open to attack, there didn't seem to be much to draw enemy fire in her absence; Orochimaru was long dead, Uchiha Sasuke had no intentions of taking over the village, and the Akatsuki already had what they wanted. Between the two surviving Sanin and the added strength of Kakashi, there was hope of this suicide mission surviving.

Now if only Naruto could hold out until they got there...

Tsunade grimaced at Kakashi's suggestion but shook her head.

"The Kazekage's many things," she said, "but a traitor isn't one of them. Besides, it's obvious he's very fond of Naruto. _Very_ fond, although he'd never admit it to anyone, himself included."

"That's the odd thing, though," Kakashi replied. "Part of Nara's report's been bothering me, and I know I'm not the only one more than a little... curious."

"Like how the hell Naruto got himself knocked up?" Jiraya asked, trying not to snigger at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Well, the 'how' isn't the question, really. We all know where babies come from," Kakashi snidely remarked.

Jiraya barked with laughter, unable to hold it back any longer. Tsunade pointedly ignored him.

"It's impossible," she snorted. "Having spent more years than I'll admit out loud as a medical nin, I believe I can safely say that boys can't get pregnant."

"Have you taken a look at Naruto's sexy-no-jutsu? I mean, really looked at it?" Kakashi asked. "I have, with the sharingin as well. It changes him inside and out to a girl. A genius jutsu, really. You'd never think Naruto could come up with something as complex as that."

"Regardless of the mechanics," Jiraya threw in, "do you think the Kazekage might've gotten wind of Naruto's indiscretions? Tsunade, if you're right about Gaara having a thing for that idiot, do you think he'd do something as petty and stupid as handing Naruto over to the Akatsuki?"

"No," she answered, curtly.

Conversation fell away, cut short by Tsunade's abrupt answer. They traveled for a while, trying to outrun the rain and their growing worries and fears. They weren't fast enough, it seemed, as the clouds opened fire, drenching the three in a matter of seconds. Soon it became too difficult to travel along rain-slick branches, the range of vision dangerously diminished by the heavy downpour, and they found themselves forced to the ground and searching for cover to wait out the worst of the storm.

Slipping into a convenient hollow in the rock wall that ringed the valley, they found refuge. Eager to keep moving, Tsunade paced like a she-wolf at the entrance, desperate to keep up the search for her missing pup. Jiraya slumped to the floor, ringing out his jacket and grumbling about being too old for this shit and oh, the thing's he would do to Naruto when they saved his ass, while Kakashi leaned against a wall, watching his elders and refusing to show his own fretting in such an outward fashion.

"If it _is_ true about Naruto _-ahem_- being with child..." Kakashi began, trying to distract them for at least a little while.

"Gods forbid," interrupted Jiraya.

"Gods forbid," Kakashi echoed. "If it's true, then who is the father..."

"The _other_ father." Jiraya cut in again.

"Stop that," hissed Tsunade, still prowling back and forth.

"...the other father, you think?"

The question caused Tsunade to pause and they all looked at each other, thinly-veiled amusement in each of their eyes. And then the laughing started. Round, loud, and not particularly professional of ninjas trying to move in secrecy, they clung to this moment of almost insane mirth, the levity much needed to keep paralyzing anxiety at bay.

When at last they were able to catch their breath the rain had slowed to a more manageable shower, and they continued on their way.

* * *

Two and A Half Years Prior

* * *

The moon hung fat and low over the Sand, the night doing little to cool the day's lingering heat. A breeze would come from time to time, and Naruto relished the small relief. 

The roof of the Kazekage's palace became a place of refuge over the past week; no matter how much he tried, Naruto couldn't sleep for longer than a few hours at a time, his mind constantly grinding and gnashing away at the news of Sasuke's death sentence. In his mind, Naruto always excused away Sasuke's betrayal as the path to his revenge. Not a pleasant thing, but obviously something necessary to Sasuke's existence. Now that he's taken innocent lives, it was like he crossed a line and Naruto couldn't even see the friend he once knew anymore. Even his current favorite pastime of bugging the crap out of Gaara couldn't distract him from these depressing thoughts, since he'd been avoiding the Kazekage the entire time, still too mad to face his friend.

Sure, he was acting like a petulant, pouting child, but that was what Naruto did best.

"Here's where you disappear to these days."

Naruto jumped at the quiet voice, too engrossed in his own pity-party to sense Gaara's arrival.

"You knew where I was the entire time," he grumbled in reply, not turning around. He felt Gaara's weight settle beside him, the man still fully dressed even at midnight. Naruto knew the guy didn't sleep, but he figured Gaara would at least wear something more comfortable when it was that late in the evening. The heat coming off of him was unpleasant and Naruto scooted away, still not looking at him.

"You're mad at me."

"Bingo," Naruto snorted, cocking his hand like a gun. "Got it in one shot. No wonder you're the almighty Kazekage."

They slipped into silence again, Naruto growing more fidgety with every passing second. Why didn't Gaara take the hint and just leave him the hell alone?

"It's been too quiet lately. I... Don't think I like it much," Gaara spoke at last. In spite of his usual lack of inflection, there was an awkwardness that made Naruto finally look at him.

"You're so honest tonight, Kazakage."

"And you're a rude brat, although that's no different than usual."

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at Gaara's snarky remark.

Even two, three years after they met, Gaara still had trouble being anything but serious around everyone. Temari complained about it all the time to Naruto, trying to get him to help her brother loosen up some. It wasn't that Naruto hadn't tried, it was just hard to rewrite so many years of shitty programming. When Gaara did, on the rare occasion, make an attempt at levity, Naruto couldn't help but feel happier.

"Well," Naruto laughed a little, trying to hold on to his anger but failing, "I like getting what I want. Maybe the cold shoulder made you reconsider? You gonna let me go after Sasuke?"

"No," Gaara answered bluntly.

Naruto's face fell.

"But I am going to assign you to a reconnaissance mission. Not," Gaara insisted, attempting to cut off the impending shout and tackle, "a retrieval mission, though. Strictly fact-finding."

Words held little sway over Naruto's actions though, and he threw himself at Gaara, hugging the Kazekage with every ounce of his strength. Naruto knew it took all of Gaara's power to keep his sand from flinging him off the roof and was grateful of the effort. Pulling away, Naruto grinned at his red-faced friend and stood, brushing himself off.

"Well, I better get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day, what with mission planning and prep work and everything!"

Naruto headed towards the door, Gaara lingering behind and unmoving. Turning back, Naruto gave him a big smile.

"You know, you don't have to give me this special treatment. I'm glad, though. Thanks, Gaara."

Gaara nodded but said nothing until the roof's exit clicked shut. Alone, he curled his arms around himself, trying to recreate the feel of Naruto's hug and failing miserably.

"Anything for you, Naruto," he whispered, his words cool in the evening's warm air.

* * *

Present

* * *

"What have you done to yourself, Naruto-kun?"

Chains clanked and cursed as Naruto rushed Itachi, only to be stopped short with such a jerk that he fell back upon his rear. In a deep corner of his mind, Naruto was begrudgingly glad for the extra, feminine padding back there, but it was only a small relief and the least of his concerns.

"Itachi, you bastard! You won't get away with this!" he shouted. The chakra-veil dropped completely now, his angry, red energy swirled and filled the small cell. Then it disappeared as quickly as it flared, leaving Naruto gasping and shaking.

Itachi didn't seem impressed.

"You fail to grasp the situation you are in, Naruto-kun. Those bindings are of a similar make as Kisame's sword; struggling will only sap you of all your chakra. So, please stop struggling. We can't have you dying before we retrieve the Kyuubi, now can we?"

Naruto left off a stream of particularly nasty and inventive curses. That the boy had such an vast vocabulary seemed to moved the Uchiha to a half-smirk; it reminded Naruto of Sasuke's own, pissing him off all the more.

"I've heard," Itachi continued, his voice flat and almost bored sounding as he inspected his immaculately-maintained nails closely, "that a developing fetus can hear it's mother's voice. At birth it knows it so well it will seek it out. I hate to think of what boorish and improper things you are teaching my niece or nephew before it is ever born."

Visibly deflating, Naruto sagged silently in on himself, unconsciously wrapping his arms around his still-flat stomach. A cherry-bright blush exploded across his cheeks; apparently everyone knew. Not that he should care about the opinion of a homicidal maniac, even if said maniac was his child's uncle, but it still burned him that his private affairs failed to remain as such. Itachi's lips twitched in that annoying almost-smirk again, further salting Naruto's wounds.

"Is Uchiha-san bothering Kana-kun's catch?"

The blind Akatsuki woman approached so silently Naruto hadn't noticed her until she spoke.

"Your catch? Naruto-kun belongs to all the Akatsuki."

"Just because Uchiha-san couldn't do what Kana-kun did oh-so-easily doesn't mean he can be so rude! And the monster's belly full of Uchiha-san's brother's seed doesn't mean he has any more right to it than her, either."

"Shouldn't you be helping the others to prepare? We begin at midnight."

"Kana-kun could say the same thing about Uchiha-san," she pouted. "Tell her, is he planning to do something about his freak baby-kin? Something that will make a muck-mess of Akatsuki plans?"

Itachi sniffed disdainfully as his answer and strode out of Naruto's line of sight.

"The little creature shouldn't get any ideas," she hissed at Naruto, staring at him with uncovered, milky-blank eyes before striding away. "No one can save it now."

Naruto shivered and tightened his grip around himself as he was left alone with his thoughts, the most important being that he was going to die in a matter of hours. Absently, he tugged at the collar around his neck and the shackles around his wrists and ankles, trying to pull them away from the reddened, burned flesh that his chakra-surge caused. It may have only been a month old, he hazarded to guess, but he could feel the child's chakra inside him flicker in a pathetic way, almost like a soundless whimper.

Tears started to well up and Naruto scrubbed them away. Damn estrogen, making him do stupid things like cry when he needed to figure a way out of this mess. Still, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of anything. His chakra was sealed, he was surrounded by Akatsuki, and in all likelihood no one outside of the Sound knew he was missing; he wasn't supposed to report to Gaara and the hag for another three weeks, and by then it would be too late. Times like these made Naruto realize that his usual way of the ninja - being loud and crazy-strong and basically annoying - wasn't going to work.

Slumping against the filthy wall with a sigh, Naruto allowed his eyes to close. He may not be able to sleep, as tired as he was, but at least he didn't have to look at anything that way. Unable to stop it, a few tears sneaked out from between tightly-closed lids, burning his skin more than the chains.

Eyes snapping open, Naruto realized he wasn't alone. Someone in the cell beside them had shifted, the sound of their own manacles echoing off the stone walls. The chakra buzz was faint, probably because of the restraints, and easy to miss; not that Naruto ever got the hang of detecting subtle signatures. Still, if he bit his lip and concentrated real hard...

"Naruto," intoned a familiar voice.

"Gaara," Naruto exclaimed, then dropped his voice, trying to quell his rising hopes, "what the hell are you doing here? We need to get out of here right away! Everything's gone all pear-shaped and Sasuke knows it was me and... Nevermind that now, help me figure out how..."

"It's true, isn't it?" Gaara interuppted, sounding more worn than moments before. Than _ever _before, really. Naruto had never heard such a sound defeat in Gaara's voice before.

"I don't know what you..."

"...so it was you.You betrayed us all."

-TBC-

* * *

**AN:** You all thought I forgot about this, didn't you? Well, you're right. Between opening a gallery, drowning in grad classes, moving, and other annoying life-things, I had put this on the back burner. I apologize for the three months of silence and the totally craptastic filler chapter I'm breaking it with. Thank you so much for the comments and the support, all you who're still hanging around despite my general scumbag nature; you all are fabulous, to say the very least! 


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